Coinbase's Ethereum layer-2 network Base is narrowing its $1 million startup accelerator to 10 teams for its latest cohort, with each selected company receiving a $100,000 investment upfront from the Base Ecosystem Fund, Coinbase announced on Wednesday.

Base, which Coinbase opened to the public in 2023, is built on Optimism's OP Stack and has grown into one of the most active Ethereum layer-2 networks, with stablecoin payments positioned as a core use case.

Applications for Base Batches 004, the fourth edition of the accelerator, are open through September 9, Coinbase said. The eight-week virtual program will conclude with a Demo Day in New York in November.

The program is targeting pre-seed startups focused on trading, payments, financing, and AI agents—including products that use stablecoins for agent-driven shopping, trading, and payments, as well as infrastructure for lending, e-commerce, and decentralized AI.

"We've learned that the best results come from going deeper with a smaller, more focused group of exceptional builders," Daniel Bronheim, Base Ecosystem Fund Lead, told Decrypt. "For Batches 004, we are shifting away from broad cohorts and zeroing in on high-signal teams, then offering hands-on support and deep Base ecosystem integration."

While teams can support multiple blockchains, Base must be their primary network. Base is also seeking founders with backgrounds in fintech who can bring new financial products to its network.

In addition to the $100,000 investment, selected teams will participate in the eight-week virtual program with a dedicated advisor and weekly support, receive help building visibility across the Base ecosystem, and present to investors at the Demo Day in New York in November.

The emphasis on AI agents reflects a broader thesis about the future of onchain activity, according to Bronheim.

"Blockchains are the native financial rails for AI, and agents will soon drive much, much more onchain activity than humans do," Bronheim said. "Given our focus on stablecoins and real-time programmable payments, Base is the ideal environment for that work. We're hoping this next cohort includes several very strong builders in this arena."

The news comes as Coinbase and other crypto firms, including MoonPay, are building projects that let AI agents hold and spend money. In February, Coinbase launched Agentic Wallets on Base, allowing AI agents to hold USDC, the U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Circle, and make payments using its x402 protocol, an open payment standard that repurposes HTTP's long-unused "402 Payment Required" status code for machine-to-machine transactions. This was followed in June by the launch of Coinbase for Agents, which connects AI agents directly to user accounts.

"The explosion of regional fintechs quietly building on Base is one of the most exciting trends in our ecosystem, and we believe it is going to unlock massive global value," Bronheim said.

Editor's note: This story and its headline were updated after publication for clarity.